Monkey Kung Fu (猴拳) is a Chinese martial art where the movements imitate monkeys or apes in fighting. One of the more acrobatic kung fu styles, movements often include falling, lunging, grabbing, light art jumping, and tumbling. The staff features prominently in its weapons training, with practitioners using it for attack, defense, and even climbing it like a pole to gain height in combat. The flamboyant movements and sometimes comic actions of the monkey style has made it a popular subject in Hong Kong martial arts movies.
Wang Lang, who had already forged the Praying Mantis system, found yet another breakthrough while walking in the forests in the mountains. He saw monkeys picking fruits from a tree. As quietly as possible, he approached the tree, yet before he could reach it the monkeys saw him, and instantaneously jumped away.
Without thinking, Wang Lang raced after them using his well-trained "nimbleness technique". Amongst the trees, the monkeys rolled, trotted and jumped, and he was soon left far behind. Panting, Wang Lang wiped off his sweat and laughed. Thinking back to what he had just seen, he imitated and analyzed the monkey's leg movements. They were exactly what he had been searching for!
The way the monkeys advanced, retreated, dashed, jumped and turned, proved to be more alive than all the big steps and broad stances used in all the other martial arts of that time. From these observations, he designed the "Monkey steps" which are characterized by narrow paces and quick legs.
This would enable better speed and spirit in moving. The "Eight Basic Stances" were combined with the well known "Thirteen Arm and Hand Techniques". Thus the skill of the Praying Mantis and the liveliness of the monkeys was joined.
For the practical use of Praying Mantis forms and techniques, Wang Lang included a number of axioms to highlight key points of his new style:
Hands are doors; legs reach out.
Hands be brisk as shooting stars, eyes
keen as lightning.
Body goes like dragon and legs like
arrows.
These axioms mean that in this Martial Art, most of the upper body techniques are mainly to block, protect, or undo the attacks of the opponent. The major task of counter-attack lies in the legs. That is, the hands and upper body are used to safeguard oneself and occupy your opponents attention, while exerting attacks chiefly with the legs. To do this, you must skillfully match hand and leg movements, making most use of the right timing, distance and position.
Wang Lang also set down some somewhat chivalrous rules in fighting for his students to follow long before the Marquis of Queensbury. These rules described parts of the body that you could or should not hit, for morality's sake. He wanted his followers to value high morals as well as excellent fighting techniques, so as to develop a supreme Martial Art.
Origins:
Hou Quan: Hou Quan (猴拳), literally 'Monkey's Fist' or 'Monkey Boxing', is recorded in part as early as the Han Dynasty(206 BC–AD 220) where it was performed as a part of the Mi Hou Wu dance in the Emperor's court. Contrary to popular beliefs, there are actually a number of independently developed systems of monkey kung fu. Examples includes Xingzhemen (行者門) named after the protagonist Sun Wukong of the popular Ming dynasty novel Journey to the West, Nanhouquan (南猴拳) or Southern Monkey Fist originating from the Southern Shaolin Temple as well as the more well known Tai Sheng Pek Kwar Moon (大聖劈掛門) style of Hong Kong.
The houquan style from the Emei region, taught by the famous "Monkey King" Xiao Yingpeng and others, was also used as the basis for the modern wushu variant of monkey style (and monkey staff) that is often seen in demonstrations and competitions today. Each independent style has its own unique approach to the expression of how to incorporate a monkey's movements into fighting.
Hou Quan may have contributed to other styles as well. For example, Wang Lang, the 17th century founder of Northern Praying Mantis Boxing (tanglang quan), was said to have borrowed the footwork of the Monkey style to complement the extremely fast handwork of Praying Mantis Kung Fu.
Tai Sheng Men: Tai Sheng Men, or "Great Saint" Kung Fu, was developed near the end of the Qing dynasty (1644-1911)by a fighter named Kau Sze from a small village in Northern China. Legend states that while serving a sentence in prison, he observed a group of monkeys from his cell. As he studied their movements and mannerisms, he found that they combined well with his own Tei Tong style. While exact circumstances of Kau Sze's inspiration remain legend, upon his release he developed his new style of fighting and dubbed it 'Tai Sheng Men' (Great Saint Style) in honor of the Monkey King Sun Wukong in the Buddhist tale Journey to the West.
Pek Kwar: Pek Kwar Kung Fu dates back to the Ming Dynasty some time around 1500.It was widely taught in the army because it is practical, direct and powerful. Pek Kwar concentrates on upper body, forearm, fist, low stance training and total body co-ordination. "Pek" means "chopping or downward arm or fist attack" and "Kwar" means "swinging or upward arm or fist attack," in Chinese. Loosely translated it means "axe fist". (Pek Kwar Kuen is the Cantonese pronunciation for Piguaquan.)
Tai Shing Pek Kwar: Tai Shing Pek Kwar Kung Fu (大聖劈掛門) was developed by Kau Sze's student Kan Tak Hoi, who started learning Pek Kwar kung fu from his father Kan Wing Kwai from as early as 8 years of age. Kan Wing Kwai was a master of Pek Kwar kung fu and after his death, Kau Sze decided to train Kan Tak Hoi in Tai Shing Kung Fu. After mastering Tai Shing Kung Fu and combining it with Pek Kwar Kung Fu, out of respect for Kau Sze's friendship, in naming the new technique Kan Tak Hoi placed Tai Shing at the beginning followed by Pek Kwar hence the name Tai Shing Pek Kwar Kung Fu.
Techniques:
Hou Quan: Traditional hou quan as taught in Mainland China includes running on all fours (i.e. the hands and feet), various difficult acrobatic movements such as flipping sideways in the air, front flips, back flips, hand stands, walking on the hands, forward lunges/dives, backward lunges, spinning on the butt, spinning on the back and many kicks and strikes. Most of the attacks are aimed at the knees, groin area or eyes of the opponent and strikes are normally either open handed slaps or clawing with a semi-closed fist called the monkey claw.
Besides, a wide array of facial monkey expressions are also practiced, inclusive of happiness, anger, fear, fright, confusion and bewilderment etc. Except for very brief periods, most movements inclusive of running are executed from either a squatting or semi-squatting position and are normally accompanied by very swift and 'jerky' head movements as the practitioner nervously looks around.
The monkey staff, or hou gun (猴棍), is one of this style's specialty weapons. Monkey boxing is an imitative technique and so execution of the movements and facial expressions must be so convincing that it looks exactly like a monkey and not like a human imitating a monkey hence the very high degree of difficulty associated with this technique.
Tai Sheng Pek Kwar: There are six variations of monkey kung fu developed as part of the Tai Sheng Men system, and still utilized in the later Tai Sheng Pek Kwar system (although the Crafty monkey variation described below may have been absorbed into the Lost monkey curriculum in Tai Shing Pek Kwar and Bak Si Lum among others, hence there are only five variations listed, in these systems):
Drunken Monkey uses a lot of
throat, eye and groin strikes as well as
tumbling and falling techniques. It
incorporates a lot of false steps to
give the appearance it is defenseless
and uses a lot of off balance strikes.
The practitioner waddles, takes very
faltering steps and sometimes fall to
the ground and lies prone while waiting
the opponent to approach at which time a
devastating attack is launched at the
knees or groin areas of the opponent. In
drunken monkey you use more internal
energy than any other. It is one of the
most difficult of the monkey styles to
master and also the most powerful.
Stone Monkey is a
"physical" style. The
practitioner trains up his body to
exchange blows with the opponent - Stone
Monkey uses a kind of Iron body method.
It will leave an area exposed on its
body for an opponent to attack, so it
can attack a more vital spot on the
body.
Lost Monkey feigns a lot. He
gives the appearance of being lost and
confused to deceive the opponent into
underestimating his abilities, and he
retaliates when least expected. The
hands and footwork change and flow from
each other at will. All monkeys are
sociable animals and so they live in
troops or family groups. They are also
very territorial by nature and so when
they wander into the territory of
another troop there is normally a fight
possibly resulting in death to the
trespassers. This technique incorporates
the fear, nervousness and mischief of a
monkey who has wandered into a
neighboring territory, in that it
attempts to pick and eat as many fruits
and insects as quickly as is possible
while nervously looking around before
scurrying back to its own home range.
Standing Monkey or Tall
Monkey is a relatively conventional
monkey that likes to keep an upright
position and avoid tumbling around. This
style is more suited for tall people.
Tall monkey likes to climb body limbs to
make attacks at pressure points. It is a
long range style.
Crafty monkey is very
deceptive, it uses different faked
emotions to lure opponents into
attacking. By pretending to be scared
for example it lulls the opponent into a
false sense of security and waits for
the opponents guard to be down, then
suddenly attacks when not expected. This
variation is not listed in the Tai Shing
Pek Kwar system, instead it appears to
have been absorbed into the Lost Monkey
curriculum.
Wooden Monkey mimics a serious,
angry monkey that attacks and defends
with ferocity. The attitude of this
monkey is more serious, and its
movements are noticeably less light than
the other monkeys. Wood monkey likes to
grapple and bring its opponent to the
ground.
At Tournaments: Monkey boxers usually wear very bright yellow colored uniforms most often with red trimmings or appliqués. The favorite weapon for Monkey Boxing is the staff or stick and standing beside it, the upper end of the staff is normally 'eye-height' for the practitioner.
There are also other weapons favored by Monkey Boxers e.g. the broadsword, straight-sword and the spear as well as the iron ring. Monkey forms are not normally performed fast paced from start to finish as in other techniques, instead the practitioner will execute a very swift series of movements then stop to 'play' (which means to fidget or scratch and it usually involves nervously looking around, picking imaginary fruits or insects from off the legs, arms, ears or head and even the groin area then very quickly eating them or scooping water from an imaginary pond or stream then drinking it).
In the lost monkey technique, there is a lot of running, nervously looking around, rolling, kicking and punching to the groin area of the opponent. Please note that the running is done in a semi-squatting position and also that a clenched fist is not used in monkey boxing, instead the fingers are loosely held like a semi-closed fist sometimes referred to as the monkey claw. With the exception of the Tall Monkey technique, all monkey forms tend to be executed from the squatting and stooping positions. When well executed, monkey forms are very comical and generally very entertaining and so tend to attract the most attention at martial arts tournaments.
Movies: The following films showcase Monkey Kung Fu either throughout the film or in major scenes:
Hou quan kou si, English title
Monkey's Fist, (1974) features real-life
Monkey Kung Fu specialist Chan Sau
Chung.
Tie ma liu, English title Iron Monkey,
(1977) starring Chen Kuan Tai.
In the movie Knockabout, (1979) the
lead protagonist Yipao used monkey-fist
technique (which he learned from a cop
pretending to be a beggar) against The
Fox, which happens to be his former
master and the one who killed his friend
Taipao.
Feng hou, English title Mad Monkey
Kung-Fu, (1979), although the technique
displayed in this movie is really the
'monkey' variation of the Lau Family
Hung Gar system and not genuine Tai
Shing Pak Kwar Kung Fu.
Chu long ma liu, English title
Monkey's Fist Floating Snake, (1979)
Zui hou nu, English title Lady Iron
Monkey, (1979) starring Fung Ling Kam.
Liu he qian shou, English title Return
of the Scorpion, (1979) features 7 Kung
Fu masters, one (i.e. Chan Sau Chung) is
a practitioner of Monkey Kung Fu. In the
first fight scene, Chan Sau Chung does a
few movements of the Drunken Monkey
technique in that he take a few
faltering steps (i.e. Monkey Staggering
Steps) then he lies prone and waits for
his opponent to approach at which time
he does a massive wheel kick and
immediately launches an attack at his
opponents groin (i.e. angry monkey
steals the peaches).
In the film Bloodsport, and it's
sequel Bloodsport II: The Next Kumite,
there are fighters who use different
variants of Monkey style.
Jackie
Chan's Drunken Master II (1994) (AKA
Legend of Drunken Master (2000) (U.S.))
features drunken monkey-type styles in
one fight scene. Wong Fei Hung takes a
form he calls "monkey drinks
master's wine" which bears
resemblances and has a similar name to
the Drunken Monkey forms "The
Monkey King Stealing Wine",
"The Monkey King Drinking
Wine" and "The Monkey King
Becoming Drunk."
Chui ma lau, English title Drunken
Monkey, uses the Monkey fist variant
Drunken Monkey, (2002)although the technique displayed in
this movie is really the 'monkey'
variation of the Lau Family Hung Gar
system and not genuine Tai Shing Pak
Kwar Kung Fu.
Pop Culture references:
In Escape from Monkey Island, the art
of Monkey Combat is practiced by some of
the monkeys on Monkey Island. One of the
stances is called Drunken Monkey.
In Sega's video game, Virtua Fighter
5, the character Eileen uses houquan as
her fighting style. It is clear,
however, that her style is fast-paced
and comical. She even scratches her ear
like a monkey and jumps like one as
well.
In Scary Movie 2, the character of
Cindy Campbell says she is using the
drunken monkey technique to defeat a
possessed caretaker.
In a Kung Fu competition on MTV2's the
Final Fu, Jonathan Phan, a prominent
member of the EMC Monkeys, is seen using
a different form of Monkey Kung Fu while
sparring against another competitor.
In the video game series Mortal
Kombat, the character Noob Saibot uses
Monkey Kung Fu as his primary fighting
style.
In an episode of the animated series
king of the Hill the character Dale
Gribble once threatens to use what he
describes as "the deadliest
fighting technique in the world, monkey
style." He then procedes to give a
brief demonstration accompanied by
monkey sounds.
Monkey Fist, villian on the Disney
Cartoon Kim Possible, is the master of
Monkey Kung Fu, but Ron Stoppable, only
knows a few moves because of the
mystical monkey power
